In 2023, the number of commercial flights in the European Union (EU) continued to rebound towards pre-pandemic levels, reaching 6.3 million flights.
However, this figure still remained 7% below the 7 million flights recorded in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to Eurostat, flight traffic saw seasonal fluctuation over the course of 2023.
The busy summer travel period from June to August registered the highest monthly flight volumes, between 10.9% and 11.4% of total annual flights.
Meanwhile, the winter months of January and February saw flight numbers dip below 400,000.
Non-scheduled charter flights and other special flights made up 9.2% of flights in 2023.
Their prevalence also peaked in summer at 10.9% to 11.4% of monthly flights between June and August.
In terms of individual airports, Amsterdam’s Schiphol claimed the top spot with 453,000 flights handled in 2023.
This was followed by Paris Charles de Gaulle (451,000) and Frankfurt Airport (427,000).
Of the top 10 busiest airports, those with the highest share of non-scheduled flights included Athens (5.6% of flights), Vienna (5.1%), and Madrid Barajas (4.7%).
While EU flight numbers gradually recovered, data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) showed air traffic worldwide is nearing pre-pandemic levels.
Total traffic in November 2023 stood at 99.1% of November 2019 volumes.
